Patent Law

Political Domain Typos

By Erik J. Heels

Registering domain misspellings is cheap insurance.

I read a blog post today in Google Reader (via Rick Klau's shared items feed) from Obama headquarters about using VoteForChange.com to make sure that you are registered to vote. When I clicked through on VoteForChange.com, I ended up at a nonexistent domain VoteForCahnge.com (note the swapped "a" and "h"). There was a typo in the underlying HTML that would only be caught by an editor who checks all links. (I make this mistake sometimes too.)

Because I think the issue of voter registration is important, I immediately registered the typo domain (VoteForCahnge.com) and redirected it to the correct domain (VoteForChange.com). So I may be the only one who notices this typo.

I also wanted to immediately transfer the domain to the legal owner of VoteForChange.com, but the whois record for voteforchange.com is a proxy registration (i.e. private registration), which I think is a very bad idea, especially for a political site.

To summarize my points:

1. Proof read and link check before posting.
2. Register typo domains. Use the DomainTools domain typo generator tool to find them.
3. Be transparent with whois.

And if you know somebody at VoteForChange.com, please have them contact me so I can transfer the VoteForChange.com to them. My email address is easy to find. Check whois for VoteForCahnge.com.

See also:

• Domain Name Trademarks
   
• Domain Name Law
  White hat domainers are not black hat cybersquatters.
• The Brand Wars Are Coming, The Brand Wars Are Coming!
  How to defend your brands on the Internet.
• Trademarks vs. Domain Names
  Trademark holders are winning 80% of their disputes with domain name registrants.
• How To Name Your Company, Trademark Your Domain Name, And Domain Name Your Trademark
  Think there are no cool domain names left? Think again. I found 201 cool domain names that are taken but six (count 'em, six) that are not. Some of them from a box of crayons. Plus strategies for protecting your trademarks, domain names, and company name.

Full post as published by Erik J. Heels on September 24, 2008 (boomark / email).